Accenture has announced ambitious plans to hire 5,000 US veterans by 2020, adding to the more than 1,000 former members of the US armed forces that are currently employed by the consulting firm. To recruit the veterans, the firm launched several military recruitment programmes and set up a dedicated recruitment team.

For Accenture, and for consulting firms* in general, ex-military personnel can prove very valuable for the business as they possess a range of valuable mental and competency skills. Ellyn Shook, Chief Human Resources Officer at Accenture, explains: “As a talent-led business, we know the lessons that military men and women learn – including leadership, discipline and teamwork – are an excellent fit with the work we do for clients. We welcome that experience, and we offer veterans a wide range of rewarding career opportunities, tailored resources to help them transition to Accenture and a dynamic environment in which to learn and grow their skills.”

Ambitious recruitment plansTo reach its goal of hiring 5,000 US veterans and military spouses in the next five years, Accenture recently launched a number of initiatives aimed at recruiting “former active-duty personnel and current reservists who possess the experience, skills or just the aptitude to be successful in a technology, operations or consulting career.”

One initiative is the Accenture Veteran Technology Training Program that helps veterans become Java programmers, another is the Accenture Student Veteran Programme that aims at attracting veterans who are pursuing undergraduate and MBA degrees, and a third is the Accenture Junior Military Officer Programme that targets current military officers with three to seven years of leadership experience.

In addition to the recently launched programmes, the firm has formed a dedicated team focused on attracting the best talent from the military community and works with dozens of military-focused non-profit organisations and attends career fairs across the country.